New AHRQ Guide Helps Nursing Homes Tackle Antimicrobial Stewardship

AHRQ’s new Nursing Home Antimicrobial Stewardship Guide is a research-based resource that offers step-by-step instructions and materials to help nursing homes improve antibiotic use and decrease harms caused by inappropriate prescribing. The guide, which is consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's core elements of antibiotic stewardship, can also help health care providers meet the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ new Infection Prevention and Control Program requirements. That program requires providers to have a system to prevent, identify, report, investigate and control infections and communicable diseases for all facility residents, staff, volunteers and visitors. AHRQ’s stewardship guide, which is customizable to meet facilities’ specific needs, includes four toolkits designed to implement, monitor and sustain an antimicrobial stewardship program; determine whether it is necessary to treat a potential infection with antibiotics; help prescribing clinicians use an antibiogram to choose the right antibiotic to treat a particular infection; and educate and engage residents and family members. Access additional AHRQ tools to prevent healthcare-associated infections and an AHRQ Views blog post, “It’s Prime Time for Nursing Homes: New AHRQ Antimicrobial Stewardship Guide Available.”